Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com
…‹‡…‡‹”‡…–
…‹‡…‡‹”‡…–
Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
ScienceDirect
Procedia Computer Science 155 (2019) 734–739

The 5th International Workshop on Wireless Technology Innovations in Smart Grid (WTISG)
The 5th International Workshop
August
on 19-21,
Wireless
2019,
Technology
Halifax, Canada
Innovations in Smart Grid (WTISG)
August 19-21, 2019, Halifax, Canada
Design and implementation of street light control system based on
Design and implementation of street
power line carrier light control system based on
communication
power line carrier communication
Xiaoqiang Xua, Ao Zhana,*, Xiaohan Lia
Xiaoqiang Xua, Ao Zhana,*, Xiaohan Lia
a
School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P.R. China
a
School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P.R. China

Abstract
Abstract
Traditional street light control systems only support manual control, photosensitive control, and simple timing control while the
energy utilization
Traditional rate is
street light low and
control the operators
systems cannot
only support monitor
manual the working
control, state ofcontrol,
photosensitive the street
andlights
simplein timing
real time, which
control causes
while the
great
energyinconvenience
utilization ratetoismanagement
low and the and maintenance.
operators This paper
cannot monitor designs an
the working intelligent
state streetlights
of the street lightincontrol system
real time, based
which on
causes
power line carrier communication,
great inconvenience to managementwhich effectively utilizes
and maintenance. the power
This paper designsgrid resources. In
an intelligent view
street of control
light the shortcomings in the
system based on
insufficient distancecommunication,
power line carrier of power linewhich carriereffectively
communication,
utilizes the
the signal
power relay method isInadopted
grid resources. view oftothe effectively extend
shortcomings in the
communication distance.
insufficient distance It realizes
of power line the real-time
carrier control and the
communication, management of street
signal relay methodlighting,
is adoptedtherefore, meeting the
to effectively needthe
extend of
intelligent
communicationlighting. The experimental
distance. results
It realizes the show that
real-time the system
control runs stably and
and management reliably
of street to have therefore,
lighting, great popularization value.
meeting the need of
intelligent lighting. The experimental results show that the system runs stably and reliably to have great popularization value.
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
© 2019
This The
is an Authors.
open accessPublished by Elsevier
article under the CC B.V.
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review
This is an under
open responsibility
access article of the
under theConference
CC BY-NC-NDProgram Chairs.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Programlicense
Chairs.(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs.
Keywords: power line carrier communication; signal relay; street light control system
Keywords: power line carrier communication; signal relay; street light control system

1. Introduction
1. Introduction
With the acceleration of the urbanization process and the continuous development and advancement of science
andWith the acceleration
technology, of the
smart street urbanization
lights have becomeprocess and the part
an important continuous developmentofand
of the construction advancement
smart cities. The of science
traditional
and technology,
street smart
light control street
system lights
only have become
supports manual an important
control, partcontrol,
timing of the construction of smart
and photosensitive cities.[1-2].
control The traditional
Although
street
it lightbasic
meets control system
lighting only to
needs supports manual
a certain control,
extent, it hastiming
manycontrol, and photosensitive
shortcomings, such as low control [1-2]. Although
automation, difficult
it meets basic lighting needs to a certain extent, it has many shortcomings, such as low automation, difficult

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 17726481442.

E-mail address:author.
* Corresponding 1435557276@qq.com
Tel.: +86 17726481442.
E-mail address: 1435557276@qq.com
1877-0509 © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open
1877-0509 access
© 2019 Thearticle under
Authors. the CC BY-NC-ND
Published license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review
This under
is an open responsibility
access of the
article under the Conference
CC BY-NC-NDProgram Chairs.
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs.

1877-0509 © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the Conference Program Chairs.
10.1016/j.procs.2019.08.106
 Xiaoqiang Xu et al. / Procedia Computer Science 155 (2019) 734–739 735
2 Xiaoqiang Xu / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

management and maintenance, and low energy utilization [3]. Therefore, it is difficult to adapt traditional street light
control systems to the developmental needs for intelligent, efficient, and sustainable smart cities.
The current mainstream communication methods of street light control systems mainly include Ethernet
communication [4], ZigBee communication [5], NB-IoT communication [6], and LoRa communication [7]. Ethernet
communication needs extra wiring and its installation and maintenance costs are high, therefore it is difficult to
apply on a large scale [8]. In order to ensure the communication quality, ZigBee, NB-IoT, Lora, and other wireless
communication technologies need additional openings for the antenna to be placed at the appropriate position of the
light pole, which requires stricter protection measures and much higher costs. Power line carrier communication can
directly utilize the existing power line without any additional communication lines [9]. It has the advantages of wide
coverage, short installation periods, and low maintenance costs [10]. Power lines have characteristics such as large
load variation, large noise influence, and strong signal attenuation [11-12]. The use of LED lights increases the noise
on the power line [13], therefore, the reliable communication distance of the power line carrier is relatively short. To
improve the communication distance of the power line carrier, it is difficult to rely solely on the physical layer as a
solution [14], so general use of a software relay scheme to improve the communication distance is recommended. At
present, the proposed dynamic routing algorithms based on the ant colony algorithm, clustering algorithm, and
flooding algorithm have slow convergence speed and high resource occupancy. Moreover, the routing path
dynamically changes so it is difficult to locate the node that causes the communication failure. In addition, in the
master-slave communication mode, it is hard to determine the timeout of the master control node. Therefore, a
signal relay algorithm of the static routing mode is designed in this paper for application in the intelligent street light
control system. The routing node in the line is pre-set in the centralized controller by the cloud server and the
routing path is then designated by the centralized controller for data transmission, which effectively increases the
communication distance of the power carrier and avoids the above problems.

2. System design

2.1. System framework

Fig. 1. System framework; Fig. 2. (a) Hardware block diagram of centralized controller; (b) Hardware block diagram of street light controller

The system framework of the street light control system is shown in Figure 1. It can be divided into two parts
according to its functions—the background management center and the field control unit, which communicate with
each other through the 4G network. The background management center consists of the servers deployed in the
cloud and the user's operating terminals such as PCs, smartphones, and tablets. The cloud server manages all the
centralized controllers on the site. Users can connect to the cloud server anytime and anywhere through the network
to conveniently operate the street lights. The field control unit is composed of centralized controllers and street light
controllers. The centralized controller manages all the street light controllers on the same power line through the
power line carrier signal. The street light controller connects with the specific street light and collects its information.
736 Xiaoqiang Xu et al. / Procedia Computer Science 155 (2019) 734–739
Xiaoqiang Xu / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 3

2.2. Hardware design

The hardware composition of the central controller is shown in Figure 2. (a). According to the function of the
circuit, it can be divided into three parts: the minimum system of single chip microcomputer, the communication
module, and the functional module.
The minimum system of the single chip microcomputer includes the MCU (Microcontroller Unit)
STM32F767IGT6, the power module, the download debugging interface, the crystal oscillator circuit, and the reset
circuit. The communication module includes a power line carrier communication module and a 4G communication
module. The power line carrier communication module is connected to the microcontroller through UART2, which
can modulate the control signal of the microcontroller to the power line and transmit it to the street light controller.
At the same time, it can demodulate the carrier signal on the power line and send it to the microcontroller. Since the
load on the power line is variable and the high-frequency noise has a great influence on the communication quality,
inductance is added to improve the communication quality. The 4G communication module is connected to the
microcontroller through UART1. It establishes a TCP long connection with the cloud server, receives messages
from the cloud server, and returns responses to it. The functional module includes an energy meter module, a 16KB
EEPROM, an external real-time clock, and four relays. The electric energy meter module is connected to the
microcontroller through the 485 bus so that the parameters of the three-phase electric power can be conveniently
collected. The EEPROM chip can store the device ID, various running status signs, and the control strategy of the
centralized controller. Four relays are used to control the opening and closing of the external circuit contactor. The
hardware composition of the street light controller is shown in Figure 2. (b). Its structure is also divided into three
parts. Compared with the centralized controller, its microprocessor chip is STM32F103RCT6. The communication
module only has the power line carrier communication module. The function of the relay is to turn on and off the
street light. In addition, a 0-10vdc dimming circuit and a voltage current sampling circuit has been added to it.

2.3. Software design

The software systems of the centralized controller and street light controller are both designed based on the
embedded operating system, FreeRTOS. FreeRTOS is a free open source embedded real-time operating system with
basic functions, such as multitasking management, time management, semaphores, message queues, and memory
management. It has many advantages, such as less occupied resources, being flexible and tailorable, and is widely
used in embedded systems. The program of the centralized controller is realized by the multi-task mode. According
to the need of the function, it runs the 4G communication task, power line carrier communication task, clock task,
power acquisition task, relay task, fault detection task, and watchdog task.

Fig. 3. (a) 4G communication task flow diagram; (b) Power line carrier communication task flow diagram

Among the seven tasks mentioned above, the 4G communication task plays the role of coordinating the work of
the centralized controller. The program flow chart of the 4G communication task is shown in Figure 3. (a). First, it
initializes the 4G module, then establishes a long TCP connection with the cloud server, and then waits for the
 Xiaoqiang Xu et al. / Procedia Computer Science 155 (2019) 734–739 737
4 Xiaoqiang Xu / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

interrupt request of UART1. If UART1 receives a correct data packet, it parses the content of it, coordinates the
work of the hardware according to the specific content, and returns a response to the server in the end.
The program of the street light controller is also implemented in a multi-task way. According to the functional
requirements, it runs the power line carrier communication task, clock task, current and voltage acquisition task,
light control task, fault detection task, and watchdog task. In the five tasks mentioned above, the power line carrier
communication task plays the role of coordinating the work of the street light controller. The program flow chart of
the power line carrier communication task is shown in Fig 3. (b). First, it initializes the power line carrier
communication module and then waits for the interrupt request of serial port 2. If serial port 2 receives the correct
data packet, it parses the content of the data packet and makes corresponding processing according to the content. If
the packet is not a broadcast packet, then a response to the centralized controller is required.

3. Signal relay strategy

3.1. Data frame design

Table 1. Data frame structure Table 2. Data packets of S→K

Data segment How many bytes Description Data segment Data packet 1 Data packet 2 Data packet 3
Data segment 1 4 bytes Current relay address Data segment 1 C I K
Data segment 2 1 byte Data length Data segment 2 Length Length Length
Data segment 3 1 byte Total address quantity M Data segment 3 3 3 3
Data segment 4 1 byte Current address number R Data segment 4 1 2 3
Data segment 5 4*M bytes Relay address 1 Data segment 5 C C C
…… I I I
Relay address M-1 K K K
Destination address Data segment 6 Function code Function code Function code
Data segment 6 1 byte Function code Data segment 7 Data Data Data
Data segment 7 N byte Data Data segment 8 CRC16 1 CRC16 2 CRC16 3
Data segment 8 2 bytes CRC16
The data frame structure of the communication between the centralized controller and the street light controller is
shown in Table 1. The data frame consists of eight data segments. The first data segment occupies four bytes,
representing the device address of the current relay node. The second data segment occupies one byte, representing
the length of the data packet. The third data segment occupies one byte, indicating that a data packet needs to be
transmitted M times to reach the destination address. The fourth data segment occupies one byte, indicating that the
data packet has undergone R transmissions. The fifth data segment occupies 4*M bytes, representing the device
address of the relay node of each transmission path, the last of which is the destination address. The sixth data
segment occupies one byte, representing the function code. The seventh data segment occupies N bytes, representing
the valid data. The last data segment takes up two bytes, representing the CRC16 check code.

3.2. Relay strategy analysis

The communication between the centralized controller and the street light controller is in the master-slave mode.
The centralized controller is the master and the street light controller is the slave. There are two types of data
packets on the bus. When the street light controller receives a unicast data packet, it must return a response to the
central controller; otherwise, it doesn’t need to return a response to the centralized controller. All street light
controllers—including the centralized controller—have a unique four-byte device address in the bus. The device
address of the centralized controller is 0x00000000 and the broadcast address is 0xffffffffff. When a centralized
controller is connected to the cloud server, the server will send the addresses of both the selected routing nodes and
all the street light controllers under the centralized controller to it. When a fault in the routing node is detected in the
line, the server will re-select a new one. In Figure 1, the device address of the central controller is S and the 12 street
738 Xiaoqiang Xu et al. / Procedia Computer Science 155 (2019) 734–739
Xiaoqiang Xu / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 5

light controllers whose device addresses are A, B, C, D... H, I, J, and K are sequentially installed in the line. The
server sets two street light controllers on this line as the relay nodes whose device addresses are C and I.

Table 3. Information transmission paths

Type Send path ACK path
S→B S→B B→S
S→I S→C→I I→C→S
S→K S→C→I→K K→I→C→S
Table 3 records the routing paths of the data packages sent by the centralized controller with device address S to
the street light controllers with addresses of B, I, and K. The principle underlying the path selection is that the data
packet sent to the street light controllers, which can directly communicate with the centralized controller, does not
need to be forwarded. After the first routing node, the street light controllers cannot directly communicate with the
centralized controller and the data packets sent to them need to pass through all the routing nodes before them.
According to Table 3, the data packets sent by the centralized controller with device address S to the street light
controller with device address K need to be forwarded by the route nodes with device addresses C and I. In Table 2,
you can see the changes in the data packets during the transmission process. Data packet 1 is sent by the street light
controller with device address S to the street light controller with device address C. Data packet 2 is sent by the
street light controller with device address C to the street light controller with device address I. Data packet 3 is sent
by the street light controller with device address I to the street light controller with device address K. There are three
principles driving the packet routing. Firstly, all street light controllers monitor the data packets on the power line in
real time. Secondly, the street light controllers receive the correct data packet—if the address of the data segment 1
equals the broadcast address or the local address, then the data packet will be further processed, otherwise discarded.
Thirdly, determining whether the data segment 3 equals to the data segment 4; if the data segment 3 is equal to the
data segment 4, indicating that the data packet had reached the destination, then the instructions in data segments 7
and 8 are executed before, finally, a response is returned to the centralized controller if the destination address is not
a broadcast address. If data segment 3 is not equal to data segment 4, indicating that the data packet needs to be
forwarded, then the value of data segment 4 is increased by 1 and data segment 1 is replaced with the next relay
address from data segment 5. Then, finally, the reconfigured data packet is sent through the carrier.

4. Testing and analysis

4.1. Experimental method

In order to test the stability of the system, we built a test platform in the laboratory. The software used in the
experiment was a self-developed WeChat applet. The power line communication module used in the experiment
worked at a frequency of 120 KHZ to 135K HZ and the transmission power was 1.5 W.
In the experiment, a copper wire with a length of 1 km and a cross-sectional area of 2.5 mm2 was divided into 30
segments of equal length. A centralized controller and 30 street light controllers were sequentially connected and
each street light controller was connected with a LED light. The test followed four steps. In the first step, the address
and location information of the 30 street light controllers and centralized controllers were recorded into the cloud
server through the scan function of the WeChat applet. The second step was to turn on the power supply of the line
and the cloud server sent the device address information of the street light controllers and the routing nodes in the
line to the centralized controller. The third step was to repeat the operation of turning on, dimming, and turning off
the 30 street light controllers 20 times during the three periods of 9:00-10:00, 14:00-15:00, and 21:00-22:00 within a
day. In the final step, the cloud server recorded the communication status of each street light controller.

4.2. Experimental results and analysis

Table 4 shows the experimental results where we can see that during the 20 times of turning on, dimming, and
turning off the lights, only 20 street light controllers within 666 meters could reliably communicate with the
 Xiaoqiang Xu et al. / Procedia Computer Science 155 (2019) 734–739 739
6 Xiaoqiang Xu / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

centralized controller without signal relays. The remaining 10 street light controllers could not normally
communicate with the centralized controller. After setting the 15th street light controller at 500 meters as a routing
node, all 30 street light controllers within the 1000-meter range could then reliably communicate with the
centralized controller. The experimental results show that when combined with the static routing algorithm, the
street light control system runs stably and reliably. Compared with the pure power line carrier communication
system, the communication distance has been effectively extended.

Table 4. Experimental results

Comparison Time Control times Effective communication distance Quantity of LED
NO 9:00-10:00 20 700 m 21
Route 14:00-15:00 20 666 m 20
21:00-10:00 20 666 m 20
Set a route 9:00-10:00 20 1 km 30
at 500 14:00-15:00 20 1 km 30
meters 21:00-10:00 20 1 km 30

5. Conclusion

After analyzing the shortcomings of traditional street light control systems, this paper designs a new intelligent
street light control system based on power line carrier communications. Aiming at the shortcomings of the
insufficient effective communication distance of power line carriers, a static routing algorithm was used to relay the
control signal. The experimental results show that the street light control system runs stably and reliably while
having high application value. It can meet the demands of smart cities for intelligent lighting.

References

[1] Wu, Y., Shi, C., Zhang, X., & Yang, W. (2010, June). “Design of new intelligent street light control system.” In IEEE ICCA 2010(pp. 1423-
1427). IEEE.
[2] Liu, J., Feng, C., Suo, X., & Yun, A. (2008, December). “Street lamp control system based on power carrier wave.” In 2008 International
Symposium on Intelligent Information Technology Application Workshops (pp. 184-188). IEEE.
[3] Chen, Y., & Liu, Z. (2009, April). “Distributed intelligent city street lamp monitoring and control system based on wireless communication
chip nRF401.” In 2009 International Conference on Networks Security (Vol. 2, pp. 278-281). IEEE.
[4] Shenyang. (2011). “Design of urban street lamp control system based on ethernet.” Ship Electronic Engineering 31(5): 134–136.
[5] Lee, J. D., Nam, K. Y., Jeong, S. H., Choi, S. B., Ryoo, H. S., & Kim, D. K. (2006, October). “Development of Zigbee based street light
control system.” In 2006 IEEE PES Power Systems Conference and Exposition (pp. 2236-2240). IEEE.
[6] Chaohua, W. U. , Yunfei, L. I. , & Jianfeng, Y. . (2018). “Design of streetlight control system based on nb-iot.” Modern Electronics
Technique 41(24): 5–9.
[7] Muthanna, M. S. A., Muthanna, M. M. A., Khakimov, A., & Muthanna, A. (2018, January). “Development of intelligent street lighting
services model based on LoRa technology.” In 2018 IEEE Conference of Russian Young Researchers in Electrical and Electronic
Engineering (EIConRus) (pp. 90-93). IEEE.
[8] Min, X. , Shihe, W. , & Xingyu, Z. . (2013). “Design of concentrator for road lamp control system based on power-line
communication.” Journal of Chongqing University of Posts & Telecommunications 25(2): 161–165.
[9] Mukhtar, O., Golam, S. M., Liu, E., & Korhonen, T. O. (2005, April). “Development of high-rate control system for LED based general
lighting applications.” In International Symposium on Power Line Communications and Its Applications, 2005. (pp. 417-421). IEEE.
[10] Zhu, E., Liu, X., & Aliaosha, Y. (2011, October). “Development and application of low voltage power line communication test system.”
In 2011 International Conference on Advanced Power System Automation and Protection (Vol. 1, pp. 320-322). IEEE.
[11] Meng, & Julian. (2007). “Noise analysis of power-line communications using spread-spectrum modulation.” IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery 22(3): 1470–1476.
[12] Pérez, Antonio, Sánchez, AlbertMiquel, Regué, JoanRamon, Ribó, Miquel, Aquilué, Ricard, & RodríguezCepeda, Pablo, et al. (2009).
“Circuital and modal characterization of the power-line network in the plc band.” IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery 24(3): 1182–1189.
[13] De Beer, A. S., Emleh, A., Ferreira, H. C., & Vinck, A. H. (2013, March). “Effects of LED lamps on the power-line communications
channel.” In 2013 IEEE 17th International Symposium on Power Line Communications and Its Applications (pp. 209-213). IEEE.
[14] Sheng, Z. S., Zhang, D. H., Yang, N. F., & Liang, J. (2011). “Relay Strategy of Power-line Carrier Communication [J].” Automation &
Instrumentation 26(1): 32–35.